本期上一篇研究論文報告說，睡眠剝奪（失眠）會造成與對高熱量食物的欲望相關的腦活動發生變化。這些發現讓我們對支持失眠與肥胖之間存在一個的流行病學證據有了進一步認識。

工業化國家肥胖的急劇增加據說與這些國家人們睡眠時間持續減少有關。人們一般認為，失眠會增強食欲，但我們對能夠解釋這一效應的機制卻不是*了解。Matthew Walker及其同事利用腦成像來研究讓失眠者看不同熱量食物的圖片時他們的反應。他們發現，失眠者在與吃的動機相關的腦區域中活動較大，而在評價食物刺激的腦區域中活動降低，這導致對高熱量食物的欲望增強。

雖然還需要進一步研究來了解為什么失眠對這些腦區域有影響，但作者希望這些發現將能幫助改進公共衛生政策。

推薦的英文摘要

The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the human brain

Stephanie M. Greer,  Andrea N. Goldstein  & Matthew P. Walker

Epidemiological evidence supports a link between sleep loss and obesity. However, the detrimental impact of sleep deprivation on central brain mechanisms governing appetitive food desire remains unknown. Here we report that sleep deprivation significantly decreases activity in appetitive evaluation regions within the human frontal cortex and insular cortex during food desirability choices, combined with a converse amplification of activity within the amygdala. Moreover, this bi-directional change in the profile of brain activity is further associated with a significant increase in the desire for weight-gain promoting high-calorie foods following sleep deprivation, the extent of which is predicted by the subjective severity of sleep loss across participants. These findings provide an explanatory brain mechanism by which insufficient sleep may lead to the development/maintenance of obesity through diminished activity in higher-order cortical evaluation regions, combined with excess subcortical limbic responsivity, resulting in the selection of foods most capable of triggering weight-gain.